


The Flayed

by TheBrothersRowe



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, angsty au, depressing shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 08:37:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19663732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrothersRowe/pseuds/TheBrothersRowe
Summary: What if Jane hadn't rescued Jonathan and Nancy in the hospital? What if the kids suspected nothing was wrong and stayed in the waiting room? What if the teens had failed in escaping Tom? What if...Jonathan and Nancy had been flayed and used as spies to watch the children?





	The Flayed

Jonathan struggled to push himself up, looking around for anything to could help him out of this awful situation. His eyes fell onto a pair of scissors, and despite his pain, began crawling forwards, praying to reach them. His fingers nearly brushed them, when Tom grabbed his hair, pulling him back.

“Just hold still.” Tom said, and before Jonathan could react, the scissors were plunged into his back, causing him to scream in agony.

Nancy’s capture wasn’t far after. The poor girl had tripped over a loose wire, landing hard on the ground. She was helpless when she was grabbed, being struck in the head and fading off to consciousness.

Once the two teens were unconscious, the two men tied them up, tossing them into the car. They needed to be quick before the children noticed. This would be a perfect opportunity to spy on them, understand their plans. If they played their roles right, they would get them out of the way, and complete their plans.

It took some time to reach the steel mill from their location, but it wasn’t too long. Tom grabbed the two, taking them down to where their master was. Billy looked up with Heather, recognizing the two. “Bring them over. We don’t have much time.” He explained, to which the two men put the teens down, tying their hands back.

Nancy was the first one to come to, groaning softly in pain as her head ached. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, letting her take a look around. As she looked around, her eyes fell on the injured Jonathan beside her, making her yell, only to realize it was muffled. Realization hit, and the girl began to panic.

“You didn’t think you could snoop around in my business and get away with it, did you Nancy Drew?” Billy asked in a menacing tone.

Before she could even try to respond, a growl filled the air, making her eyes widen in sheer horror. Looking into the darkness, she watched a figure shift, a very big one. She began to struggle, trying to scream through her muffle to wake up Jonathan.

Billy tsked softly, removing her gag along with Jonathan’s. “Try not to move.” Was all he said, backing away as the monstrous noises got closer.

A fleshy claw made its way closer, and Nancy screamed as she got a view of the horrifying beast. Her screams made Jonathan awaken with a jolt, gasping in shock as the creature closed in on them. “Na-Nancy?!” Jonathan shouted, looking around, quickly realizing how completely and utterly fucked they were. Their hands were tied back to a set of pipes and he was still injured.

There...there was no way out of this.

Jonathan winced in pain, turning to face Nancy. “Nancy, no matter what happens, I-” Nancy shrieked as one of the monster’s fleshy arms latched onto Jonathan’s face, pulsing. “NO!!!” She screamed, facing the same fate as him moments after. The two teens convulsed lightly as the creature remained latch, Billy watching them in amusement.

Several minutes past, and Heather finally released the two, watching the monster pull away from them. “Alright you two, get up. You have a lot of work to do.” Billy stated.

Just as he commanded, the two rose to their feet, looking at Billy. “What do you want us to do?” Nancy asked. “I want you to keep an eye on those kids. We see what you see, we’ll be able to stop them.” Billy explained, to which the two nodded. Billy whistled, and Tom tossed his keys to the two teens, “You better hurry before they start wondering where you went.”. The two nodded, walked out of the steel mill and drove back to the hospital.

The five kids waited in the waiting room, all bored out of their minds. All the candy had been eaten, their stomachs were aching, it was a huge mess honestly. Lucas huffed looking at his watch, making Mike lookup, “How long has it been now?”.

“About five minutes since you last asked me.” Lucas remarked.

“I mean it has been a while…” Will nervously commented, honestly feeling concerned for his brother...he felt...off here.

Before the two could continue bickering, a familiar duo showed up. “About time, where the hell were you two? It’s been over an hour.” Mike asked, looking more aggravated then normal. “Were you able to find her?” Max asked. “What did she say?” Will asked, walking over to his brother.

“Nothing, she was asleep, sick. We waited a while to see if she’d wake up, but she didn’t.” Jonathan explained.

Will almost shuddered as his brother talked...something...felt very wrong with how he talked. As he observed his brother, he noticed the injuries on him. “Jonathan, you’re hurt! What happened?!” The younger brother panicked. Jonathan touched his forehead instinctively, wincing in pain. He looked at Nancy, who slowly nodded in response.

“It’s a long story, we need to get out of here.” Over the drive the two explained their incident...of course, the altered version due to their situation. However, the entire time they told the story, Will just couldn’t shake this bad feeling.

_ It was just paranoia...right? _

The group eventually arrived to the safety of the Wheeler’s house, all of them setting up for their plan of action. They had to stop Billy and the Mind Flayer, but no matter what they planned, it felt like they were missing a piece of the puzzle.

“No matter what we do, something isn’t right.” Lucas huffed, rubbing his eyes.

“That’s why we should listen to El, her powers can track Billy.”

“No!” Jonathan suddenly shouted, shocking the kids. He took a moment to calm himself, “I mean no because it isn’t safe. Using too much of her powers could hurt her or something. We don’t need our only power house being hurt, maybe there’s another way.”.

“There isn’t any other way! El knows her limits, she knows her powers than anybody else.” Max looked back to Eleven, who was already putting the cloth over her eyes. Jonathan let out a sigh, to which Mike looked at him, “I tried warning her too. Girl’s are difficult.”.

Despite his attempts, Eleven was already using her powers in attempts to find BIlly. He wanted to press more, but didn’t. If he did it would just give them away.

_ It was too soon, too soon. _

They needed to be patient, never letting it slip up who they were. Inside of Hopper’s cabin house was a safe place. No direct light from outside, and they were able to turn down the heat inside because it was Summer. The sun was setting soon, they’d be fine.

All of them watching Jane search for Billy, hoping to find out where he was. The two teens silently watched her, and every time Will looked at his brother, he couldn’t help but shudder. A pit grew in his stomach, what was going on..?

Eventually Will gave into the feeling, walking up to his brother. “Hey Jonathan, can we talk?” Will asked.

The older Byers lifted up his head confused, before agreeing. Will took his hand, guiding his brother away from the others so he could speak. “Are you sure your feeling alright? You got pretty banged up back there.” Will stated, looking at the bruises on his older brother’s face. They had gotten the blood off, but it was still pretty noticeable.

“I’m fine Will, we already talked about it, I’m fine. Plus, we don’t really have time to slack off.” Jonathan responded, heading back to the living room before Will could speak more.

He just couldn’t shake this feeling, and it honestly scared him.

After a moment, he returned to the group, watching Eleven. There was a long silence, when she suddenly screamed, tearing off her blind. Everyone was startled by this reaction, huddling around her. “What? What did you see?” Mike asked, concerned for her. “Do you know where he is?” Nancy questioned.

El took shaky breaths, nearly on the verge of crying. She slowly lifted up her head, looking at the group. “H-He saw me...He told me they were going to end me. He said...he said he was going to kill all of you.” The group immediately felt uneasy, “He’s going to kill everyone”.

Lucas grimaced, looking at her, “That means he knows you’re the only one that can stop him, once your out of the way, nothing will stop him.”. Nancy glanced at Jonathan when they said this, then to the girl before them. “So what does that mean?” Jonathan asked.

The girl took a shaky breath, gripping the blind. “When I was in there, he talked to me in here. He knows where we are.”.

Max went wide eyed, going still as she hears something in the distance, “Do you guys hear that?”.

“I’m pretty sure it’s fireworks.” Lucas remarked.

Max ignored him, holding up her hand as they heard noises. Nancy stepped forward, standing beside her as they looked out the window. The trees shifted in the distance, and their worst fears were confirmed. In the path that led to the cabin, a disgusting figure appeared. A fleshy version of the Mind Flayer stood at the end of the trail, looking at the cabin.

“Oh shit...”

The Mind Flayer let out a screech, rushing towards the cabin. “Crap, everyone cover up the entrances! Get ready for a fight!” Jonathan shouted. He and Nancy ran outside to get weapons, letting the kids block off the doors and windows.

Once all the entrances were blocked off, all of them moved to the center of the room, standing back to back. All of them were ready to attack, waiting for the Mind Flayer’s attack.

The fight spiraled down hill, the mind flayer’s fleshy arms bursting through the walls, swinging around. Jonathan bit his lip, knowing this would hurt. He let out a yell, trying to mask it as a shot of adrenaline as he swung the ax down on the tentacle. Pain coursed through him, making him wince in pain. He couldn’t show what was happening.

“It’s everywhere!” Max screamed. “Keep swinging!” Mike shouted at Jonathan. Jonathan gripped the ax, swinging his ax down on the fleshy arm, severing it. His body ached, but he kept a strong face. 

_ It was too soon. _

After some fighting, the monster had latched onto Jane’s leg, playing a violent tug of war with the kids. Nancy held the shotgun in her grasp, her eyes slowly traveling up to the beast. “Nancy, shoot it!” Mike pleaded, struggling to free Jane. The girl mouthed a silent apology, firing at the Mind Flayer. Jonathan almost doubled over in pain while it took everything in her not to collapse. She fired several more times, eventually getting it to let go of Jane.

Jane fell to the ground with a cry of pain, her leg oozing from the disgusting bite wound. “Come on, get to the car!” Jonathan shouted, running outside. Mike and Lucas helped El up, hurrying outside to the car. Nancy sat in shotgun, looking back at the group.

“Get to a department store or something! We need to fix her leg!” Mike shouted from the back of the car. Jonathan stomped his foot on the gas, driving to the nearest store. Jonathan drove through the town quickly, there was no issue as almost everyone was at the fair. It was the perfect cover up.

It took some time to finally arrive at the store, and Max quickly broke open the door, letting them in. The fiery redhead quickly began explaining all they needed, having everyone do something that could help her. Jonathan and Nancy walked over, both looking each other over to see if there were any noticeable wounds. “We have to wait for the perfect moment, when they’re all together.” Jonathan explained, to which Nancy nodded.

“We need to dispose of all of them when the moment is perfect. The plan must not fail.” Jonathan said, before walking off to grab what they needed to treat El.

Will let out a shaky breath, leaning lightly against the aisle. His body lightly quivered as choked whimper left him after hearing what the two have said. The chill he felt, the off feeling, it was right all along. 

_ When..? How had it taken over them? _

“It’s got them…” He whispered in terror, tensing hearing Jonathan walking down the aisle. Not wanting to be caught, he moved to where Lucas was, making it look like it had been with him all along. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Jonathan approach Mike and Jane, making him worried.

If they were being controlled by the Mind Flayer, then they were going to be after Jane.

He couldn’t let them hurt her, she was the only way they could fight back against it...but...but what if it hurts his brother?

“Hey Will? Earth to Will! You’re supposed to help us with the fireworks! We need as many as we can if we wanna fight it.” Lucas’ voice brought him back. “Yeah...yeah.” Will walked over, picking up a box of fireworks. He glanced over, seeing Jonathan and Nancy pick up some boxes. Dread filled him, what was he supposed to do?

This was his brother…  _ how was he supposed to help him? _

It was a nerve wracking ride to the mall, they had finally arrived… Starcourt Mall. Will gulped, climbing out of the car. Everyone else climbing out, ready to meet up with Dustin here. As they walked he couldn’t help but look back at Nancy and Jonathan in front of them. Jonathan had his ax and Nancy carried the shotgun. Will repressed a shudder, keeping his eyes forward. He was running out of time to make a plan, and from what they already knew, he didn’t want to risk his brother being hurt.

Or worse...ending up dead.

When they entered the mall, there was already an intense setting. As the group moved into the mall more, they saw four armed man aiming their guns at one of the food court stores. “That must be where they are.” Nancy breathed out. “Shit, what did they do that got these guys on their asses?” Lucas questioned.

Mike looked at Jane, who focused intently on a red car that was not too far. “You can do it.” He whispered. The girl nodded, holding up her hand, and with a single movement the car went flying, slamming into the four soldiers, taking them out.

Once the soldiers had fallen, four people came out of cover, shocking the group. Dustin, Steve, Erica, and someone they hadn’t seen before were there. “Guys? What the hell are you guys doing here?” Steve asked, looking at the group.

“We could ask you the same thing.” Mike stated.

“I tried telling you that over the walkie!” Dustin exclaimed.

“I couldn’t make out anything you were saying.” Mike shot back.

Dustin threw his arms in the air huffing, “Damnit low batteries!”

“Hey, I already told you about this dipshit, have batteries on you.” Steve stated, getting a glare from Dustin.

In the back of the group Nancy looked at back at Jane, who appeared sluggish. Her eyes slowly trailing down to the girls pant leg. She had been infected from the bite, an interesting move. Not a completely foolproof one though it seems, as the girl collapsed to the ground, catching the group’s attention. They all hurried to her side, trying to figure out was wrong. Didn’t take them long to realize what was wrong, as they removed the bandages on her leg, watching in disgust as the girl’s leg moved with something underneath it.

Jonathan looked down at the girl, glancing around their surroundings. The girl was in pain, they could take her out right now, with a shotgun and ax. No, too soon. 

_ Still too soon. This had to go right. _

Robin ended up kicking into gear, running off to the Chinese restaurant, riffling through the drawers in a panic. “Come on, knife knife!” The girl pulled open all the drawers, gasping as she eventually found a sharp knife, “Thank you god!”. Hurrying over to the stove, she let it sit over the heat as she grabbed a glove. Once the knife was heated up, she sprinted over.

“Alright kid, I know I don’t really know you, but you’re gonna have to try to stay as still as possible, otherwise this’ll hurt more! And it’s going to already hurt like Hell.” Robin pass El a wooden spoon, before pulling on the glove, “Bite on it, trust me.”. El put the wooden spoon between her teeth, clutching Mike’s hand, bracing for agonizing pain.

Muffled screams filled the air, followed by heavy weeping as she tried to escape the pain. Robin grimaced, dragging the knife down the infected skin, getting a clean slice. Once the slice was deep enough, Robin worked her fingers in, digging for whatever was causing the pain. El let out more muffled screams, struggling heavily.

“Robin, stop!” Steve shouted, catching her attention, “Please stop.”.

Robin looked at Jane, softly gasping as she pulled her fingers free, “I’m so sorry. I was just trying to help.”.

El whimpered, sitting up with her friend’s help, looking at her leg. “I can do it.” She slowly lifted up her hand, gritting her teeth in pain as she began to pry the beast from her flesh. Screams soon tore through her throat, struggling to rip the beast from her leg. The others all backed up, but stayed close, watching as she struggled. Her screams grew louder, and all of them tensed up as the glass wall behind them broke, glass falling on the screaming teenagers.

With one final scream El pulled out the fleshy piece of her leg, tossing it as far as she could. The fleshy bit landed a few feet away, and began moving. Before it could get far, a foot stomped hard on it, squishing it.

They all looked forward, spotting several familiar figures. Joyce, Hopper, and Murray.

“Papa…” Jane weakly gasped, still struggling to calm down after the pain she had endured. “Oh my god, El.” Hopper hurried over to his daughter, concerned immediately seeing her injury.

Joyce hurried over, hugging Will tightly. “Oh my goodness, you’re okay baby.” She breathed out, so relieved that her son was safe. Jonathan glanced over, observing the two.

_ So this was the woman that had removed him from his first host. No matter, none of them would be allowed to stop them this time. They would be sure of that. _

All three groups were now reunited, they all began catching each other up on what they had been doing. Between Dustin’s surprising Russian interception, Hopper and Joyce trying to solve what the Russians were doing with the gate, and how Jane was after Billy, whom they knew for sure was being controlled by the Mind Flayer. That and a least a couple dozen citizens of Hawkins, involving Heather and her family, most of the Hawkins Post, and god knows how many others.

Once everyone was caught up, a plan was fabricated. They had to stop the Mind Flayer, in order to do that they had to close the gate, in order to close the gate they needed a special equation to crack the Russians code.

“Alright kids, we all know what our parts are. Now I want all of you too-JESUS!” Hopper jumped back startled as the walkie in his hand was shot, breaking it. All of the others were stunned by this, their eyes traveling to held the sizzling gun.

“Nancy..?” Mike asked, looking at his sister.

Nancy and Jonatha stood beside each other, looking at the group. “They’re acting really creepy.” Erica commented, to which Lucas pulled her behind him,

“He’s got them.” Will gasped out in horror.

“What?” Joyce turned to her youngest son in horror.

“You were no longer of use to us. Now that the girl can’t use her powers anymore, there is nothing that can stop us except the gate.” Nancy explained in a monotone voice. “Once we remove you, there won’t be anyone to stop the gate. There will be no one to stop US.” Jonathan continued in the same chilling voice.

“How the hell-?” Max began. “The hospital. When we searched for Driscoll, we were met by Tom. It wasn’t too bad though, after all, we got to join our master.” Jonathan’s fingers drummed across his ax.

The others were tense, terrified. This entire time, the two had been controlled by the Mind Flayer! It knew everything they planned, every little detail.

Hopper grimaced, looking at the two. “Kids, get Jane away from here, get to the car and go! We’ll take care of the gate and them.” Hopper shouted. Will and Mike made eye contact with their siblings, feeling guilty as they were only a few floors away from them when this happened. The six finally ran once Hopper shouted again, Mike letting Jane lean on him as they ran. Steve and Robin attempted to follow suit, but were nearly shot at.

“No one leaves!” Nancy shouted, firing rounds at those remaining. The two ice cream scoopers ducked behind the fountain, avoiding the gun fire. “Didn’t tell me you ex was a great shot!” Robin screamed out, covering her head.

While Nancy dealt with the adults and teens, Jonathan began following after the six kids, dragging his ax behind him. “Oh my god, this is horror movie 101!” Dustin shrieked hearing the blade scratch against the tile floor. Will glanced back again, his heart painfully hammering as he saw his own brother chase after them mindlessly, fueled by the urge to stop them.

_ Will woke up with a gasp, panting loudly as he immediately felt the heat. Jonathan looked up, his eyes falling onto his younger brother anxiously. Was he better yet? Was it out of him? _

How the situations have turned. Will suddenly stopped, making his friends look at him stunned. “Will!” Lucas shouted. “Go! He’s my brother! I have to help him!” Will shouted. They grimaced, but eventually ran, trying to escape the mall.

Will turned around, trying to calm his nerves as he looked at Jonathan. “It’s been some time.” Jonathan voiced, but Will knew who it was, getting that cold feeling all over.

“You’re going to get out of my brother, and leave Hawkins. All of you!” Will shouted. A wiry laugh left Jonathan, the teen tilting his head curiously. “And who’s going to make me? You?” He asked.

“ME!” Before Jonathan could react, a figure leapt onto his back, struggling against him. “Mom?!” Will cried out. “RUN WILL!” Joyce screamed, clinging onto Jonathan with sheer motherly strength. She yelped as Jonathan rammed back into a wall to get her off. The youngest Byers gasped in horror, watching Jonathan turn around, gripping the ax. Joyce groaned as she shook off the pain, yelling as she barely moved in time as the ax swung down, striking where she once was.

The mother crawled back in a panic, looking at her oldest son with wide eyes. Jonathan lifted his ax up, glaring down at her. “You had to keep getting in the way.” He growled out, raising the ax above his head, ready to swing it down on Joyce.

“1972, June 12th! You were just five and you got your very first bike for your birthday! You were so so happy when you got it, you started riding it without training wheels. When you started going to fast you crashed, skidding you knees badly! You were crying so much, but I gave you band aids and kissed both your knees, telling you to keep going..!”

When he hesitated, she kept going, “And when you first started driving at 15, you called me scared that you accidentally bumped into another car. You were so scared I was going to be mad, but I wasn’t. I told you it was fine, we’d fix this and we did.”.

“Shut up.” Jonathan hissed out, pressing the ax firmly against Joyce’s throat, starting to block off her breathing. She let out a hitched gasp, but continued despite the struggle to breath and tears burning the corner of her eyes.

“Ever since Will was born, I paid less and less attention to you. With me working I was almost out of your life..! It didn’t stop you though. You would cook every morning to give me extra time to sleep, got a job to help pay mortgage, drove your brother too school. You were doing so much for our family, for all of us...and you never asked anything from it...I’m so sorry, Jonathan… I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you baby. Been there when you needed me most…” Joyce whimpered softly, tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked up at her oldest son, “I love you so much Jonathan… I…” She struggled to speak more, but the pressure of the ax on her neck was making her black out.

Jonathan’s grip quivered, glaring down at her, “Your lying… YOU’RE LYING!!!”.

Joyce took a shaky breath, reaching into her back pocket, and with her remaining strength pulled out her wallet. Her hands shook as she took something out of it, but she was able to hold up a single photograph, worn around the edges as it was years old. The boy’s eyes widened at it, shaking lightly as he looked at it.

“This..this was...was the day you got your camera… I asked you to take a picture of the most beautiful thing in the room...and you took a picture of me…” Joyce’s voice broke into a sob, looking up to her oldest son.

Jonathan’s body shook, tears running down his eyes as his body struggled to resist. “M-mom..?” He whimpered, starting to crumble. Joyce gasped as the pressure was removed from her neck, the ax being removed all together. Jonathan sat up on his knees, looking at his mother as tears ran down his cheeks.

Not hesitating at all, Joyce got on her knees, tightly hugging her oldest son. “I love you baby, I love you.” She rasped out, running her fingers through his hair. 

_ Disobedience, it was not allowed. If the boy would not finish her off, it would make him. _

“Mom, I-AUGH!’ Joyce yelled in shock as Jonathan collapsed to his side, curling up in pain as he body began to spasm. “No, no Jonathan! Get out of my son you bastard! Do you hear me?! Get out of my SON!” Joyce screamed, putting her hands firmly on Jonathan’s shoulders in attempts to calm the spasms, “Focus on me Jonathan! FOCUS!”.

Seeing nothing she did help, Joyce quickly looked around for something, something hot! Getting up, she ran to the nearest storage room, hoping to find something. “Come on, come on!’ Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she hoisted up a blow torch, hurrying over to Jonathan.

“You have tried to take one son from me already, I will not allow you to take another!” Joyce screamed, turning the blow torch on. Jonathan screamed in agony, his body trembling more. Deep down she hated hurting her sons, but she needed to do this to save him. She heard what the hell happened to them when under the monster’s control, she wouldn’t let him become a part of the monstrosity.

Female screeches filled the air not too far from where they were, letting Joyce realize whatever happened to one of them happened to both of them.

“Hold on, I’m doing this to save both of you!” Joyce exclaimed, turning up the flame. His screams were agonizing to hear, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop until this damn monster was out of her son’s body. “LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE!” Joyce pressed the torch close, searing some of his skin.

A final scream tore through, his body trembling as gagged heavily. Joyce kept the torch on, but pulled it away from him. Jonathan continued to gag, tensing up as he coughed. After several agonizing minutes of struggling, he hacked out a fleshy creature, startling Joyce as it was a bigger version of what had been in Jane’s leg. The creature screeched, attempting to run off, but Joyce didn’t give it a chance quickly burning the beast with the torch.

Once it was dead, she tossed the empty burner, hurrying to her sons side. “Jonathan, Jonathan can you hear me?!” Joyce pleaded. He slowly opened his eyes, letting out a pained cry. “Shhh, shhh it’s okay.” She lifted him up best she could, leaning him against her, “It’s over, I promise it’s over baby.”.

As she said that though, the mall shook, making dread hit her. Oh god...it would know if Jonathan and Nancy didn’t kill them all..and if they failed, that meant it was here.

Loud crashing noises were heard, followed by a monstrous shriek filling the two in sheer horror as they realized this nightmare wasn’t over.


End file.
